Every “expert” has a different set of rules. One day fats are good, the next they are bad. One person says to eat lots of fruit, the other says EEEEK—too much sugar! How are you supposed to keep them straight? How are you supposed to know what rules to follow?

So you choose a set of rules and you decide that you are going to follow them to a tee. No cheating, no slip-ups. Except your schedule is crazy and you didn’t have time to meal prep last night. And you are really freaking SICK of the same old chicken and broccoli that you are eating every day and there are donuts at the office that smell so good and…. Crap, you just ate 4. Now you feel INSANELY guilty and plan out when you can squeeze in 2 hours of cardio to try to undo the damage and TOMORROW you are back on the wagon—no excuses! Until life happens again.

See? Crazy.

Welcome to the diet cycle.

The interesting thing about the diet cycle is that—although we may make some progress at first—we usually end up right back where we started (or even a few times heavier). There are LOTS of reasons for this:

1) The rules don’t take into account our unique bodies and their needs and what feels good to them.

3) The rules make us feel like we can’t have the things that we really love, which makes us want them more. Remember when you moved out of your parents’ house for the first time and tasted sweet, sweet freedom? Yep, every diet is like living that all over again.

4) The rules cause so much restriction that we end up bingeing, whether it is a planned “cheat day” or an unplanned fall off the wagon, when we are super restrictive and then overeat, it sends our blood sugar spiking and our bodies get confused. “When am I going to get to eat like this again?” It thinks. “I’d better hold onto it!” and then stores it all up as fat.

So my number #1 tip to start shedding weight and regaining your sanity is to trash all the rules.

Often people think that if they do this, they will end up eating junk food all day. But if you really listen to your body, if you really connect and tune in and see what foods feel good, you probably won’t be eating a lot of junk. In fact, you might find you are satisfied after just one slice of pizza or a couple bites of cake instead of inhaling large amounts of it so quickly that you don’t even taste or enjoy it.

It is also important to take a look at your motivation for losing weight. Why? If you want to lose weight for any reason other than to take good care of your body and nourish it because you love yourself, then you are likely coming from a place of fear and have some things to heal. Those motivations make the diet cycle even more addictive.

Throwing out the rulebook can be hard. And usually it is just the first step to sustainable, natural weight loss. If you want to explore what ditching the rules looks like for you and doing the work that is required to trust yourself in the process and heal up your relationship to food, I am taking on new clients to work with one-on-one. The initial consult is always free and a good way to see if coaching is right for you!

You can also join my private Facebook community, Nourish + Shine, where we talk about all things wellness and food freedom and how to live your best life.

Name *

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email Address *

Thank you for your interest in joining the Nourish + Shine Facebook group. Check your email inbox for a link to the page!

Letting go of all of the rules (or brules-- for bullshit rules) that you have created around eating can be super scary, but it is the first step to overcoming the diet cycle and freeing ourselves from the restrictions that we have been imposing on ourselves.